The anthracycline antibiotics daunomycin and adriamycin are today among the most widely used agents for the treatment of cancer. New antibiotics of this class which have been recently isolated are largely devoid of the acute toxicity of the former agents yet retain strong anticancer activity. We have in progress studies which appear promising for the development of a general route for large scale synthesis of the entire spectrum of anthracycline antibiotics. This unified approach is based upon the preparation of an intermediate which contains the basic skeleton common to all the antibiotics. Manipulation of the substitution pattern on the skeleton will allow the synthesis of the different antibiotics. The viability of such a plan has partially established by the procedures and methodology which we have successfully developed and employed to prepare the aglycones of other anticancer antibiotics containing an aromatic fragment. Specific antibiotics and aglycones which have been targeted for preparation are 11-deoxydaunorubicin, 7-con-O-methylnogharol, the aklavinone-rhodomycinone-pyrromycinone anthracyclinone groups, and a new brief synthesis of daunomycin.